Planning Ahead
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. AU. From "The Orchard". "You have it all mapped out already?" Beth couldn't help but show her surprise. For some reason – a very good reason – she just imagined that Daryl thought of the farm and nothing much more than that.


**A very random one-shot.**

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With Shawn on her hip, Beth left the house and headed across the grass and down the slight hill towards the barn. Otis, Jimmy and Merle had already eaten their lunches but Daryl hadn't come in and when Beth had inquired where her husband was, they said that he was in the barn, too busy to come and eat. Beth had sighed when she heard and fed the other man before seeing to her husband. She was used to this – of Daryl working harder and longer than the other men – but that didn't mean that she ever approved of it.

He was in the barn, as she had been told he was, and she found him in one of the horse stalls, holding a horse's leg – Midnight – as he gently dug out a clump of mud that had embedded into the horse's shoe.

"How'd that happen?" Beth asked and he didn't even startle. He had amazing hearing and it wasn't as if she had been trying to walk quietly.

"Rode him out to the east field this mornin' to check on the far fences. Fields are still a mud pit from last night's storm," Daryl answered without lifting his head. He kept working until he finally got all of the mud out of the shoe and then gently set the horse's leg down again. He straightened up with a sigh and looked to Beth and Shawn. Shawn stretched his arms out for him and Daryl set his tool aside and pulled him from Beth's arms into his. "What are you two doin' out here?" He asked, looking to Beth.

"Us? You're the one who didn't come in for lunch," Beth said. Shawn was reaching his hands up, trying to grab hold of some of Daryl's head and Daryl didn't seem to mind as he kept his eyes on Beth. "Come on up to the house now. You need to eat and then I promise, you can come out here and work until you pass out."

"Nah. I'm just gonna work through and I'll eat two dinners tonight," Daryl said. "There's too much to do today."

Beth didn't try to suppress her heavy sigh and she gave him a look. She reached over and took the baby back into her arms. "You are getting up to the house and eating something right this second and I don't want to hear you say something so stupid again. There are three other men who work on this farm. Not just you. _Delegate_."

Daryl looked at her for a moment and then smirked. "Easy as that, huh?"

Her face softened into a smile. "You're the boss. You can do whatever you want."

He smirked at that. "Slavery ended a while ago, darlin'," he said, stepping out of the stall and his hand brushed along the small of her back, guiding her towards the barn doors.

"You know that's not what I'm suggesting, Daryl Dixon," she gave him a look that was meant to be stern but she was trying her hardest not to smile. "All I'm suggesting is you should give all the hard work to Jimmy to do."

Daryl let out a chuckle at that and took Shawn from her arms again into his. "Maybe I can start puttin' this one to work," he said, bouncing the baby a couple of times and Shawn giggled, slobbering on his fist. "One day, this is all gonna be his. Should start showin' him the ropes 'fore he realizes he hates it."

"He won't hate it," Beth said, watching them fondly as Shawn then tried to offer Daryl his fist, pushing it against his lips.

"Nah. This ain't for 'im. This one is gonna grow up and be a doctor or somethin' fancy," Daryl said he sounded so sure, Beth wasn't sure why but she felt her heart fluttering in her chest.

For a man who had been so terrified of being a father and reacted so terribly – to put it lightly – when Beth told him of her pregnancy, Daryl was every bit as good a father as her own had been and she thought her daddy was the best in the world.

Daryl looked to her. "Our next one's gonna be the farmer."

Beth let out a soft laugh at that. "Our next one? Can we please get this one out of diapers first?" She asked and his lips quirked in a smile.

They reached the house and Daryl walked up the back steps first, opening the back door for Beth to walk through first. Jimmy, Otis and Merle were just finishing up their desserts – freshly made Rick Krispie treats that Annette had made just that morning. Hershel was in the kitchen now, too, talking with Otis about the Brooklyn Dodgers – a shared love of theirs besides farming. Beth knew that Daryl sometimes got nervous when he saw Hershel and Otis talking, worried for a split second that Hershel was asking Otis for a report on how Daryl was doing with things; making sure his son-in-law wasn't running the family farm into the ground. Beth knew that one of Daryl's greatest fears was letting Hershel down.

But Hershel and Otis never talked about Daryl. If Hershel had a question about how the farm was going – and he asked every night at dinner – he asked Daryl straight on and Daryl was always honest with him – talking about the orchards and the cattle and pigs and Beth wondered when Daryl would finally realize that he was good at this.

The three men left shortly after, heading back out to their work, and Beth went to the table in the middle of the kitchen to fix Daryl a sandwich with the turkey and cheese slices that she had just bought at the store that morning. Daryl sat down at the table with Hershel, settling Shawn in his lap, the baby now tugging on the dog tags Daryl never took off from around his neck.

"How many children are you planning on us having?" Beth blurted out, unable to help herself, not letting her parents still in the kitchen keep her quiet.

Daryl shrugged as Hershel looked back and forth between them with amusement.

"Are you pregnant?" Annette asked, the joy obvious in her tone, the woman ready to break out into celebration right then and there.

Beth chose to ignore the question at the moment as she carried the plate over to the table and set it down in front of Daryl, looking to him for an answer. "So, Shawn is going to be a doctor and our next child will be the farmer. What if they don't want to be a farmer, either, though?"

Daryl shrugged, shifting Shawn to one knee and leaning over into the table, taking a bite of his sandwich. "I-"

"And what if we have a daughter after Shawn?" Beth asked, not letting him answer. "Are you going to let her run the farm if she wants to?"

Daryl looked up at her with his brow furrowed. "'course I would. If she wants to and she's good at it, why wouldn' I?" He then looked to Hershel. "If that'd be alright with you."

Hershel smiled. "By the time your daughter is old enough to take over _your_ farm, I will be long gone."

"Don't say that, daddy," Beth frowned at him and then looked back to Daryl. "And what if Shawn _wants_ to run the farm and not be a doctor? What if our next child wants to be a doctor?" She continued to press.

Daryl kept frowning. "Then Shawn runs the farm and the other one goes to college. As long as one of 'em becomes a doctor. It doesn't matter to me which one of our kids does it."

"You have it all mapped out already?" Beth couldn't help but show her surprise. For some reason – a very good reason – she just imagined that Daryl thought of the farm and nothing much more than that.

"Not all of it," he mumbled.

He then took a few long minutes, biting and chewing and swallowing. Shawn was gurgling, occupying himself by inspecting one of his daddy's ears and Beth knew Daryl was quite aware that not only Beth was looking at him but also that Hershel and Annette was, too.

Beth knew her husband was an extremely shy man and she didn't mean to have a private conversation like this in front of anyone else – especially her parents – but she seemed unable to help herself.

"Why a doctor?" She couldn't help but ask.

Daryl shrugged and didn't look at her. "Never had a Dixon be a doctor 'fore."

Beth was quiet for a moment and looked at him as he avoided looking at any one as he finished the rest of his sandwich. Once he finished, he stood up and finally met her eyes as he passed Shawn back into her arms.

"Gotta get back to work," he said and then leaned in, kissing her on the cheek. "Thank you for lunch."

"See you for dinner," she smiled up at him. "And don't you dare be late. We need to eat all of this food while we can before we have all of these kids and they eat us out of house and home."

He smirked a little. "We ain't gonna have that many kids."

Beth perked up a little, thinking she might finally get an answer now. "How many kids _are_ we going to have?" She asked once more.

"At leas' four," he then shrugged quite casually and leaned in, giving Shawn a kiss on the head. "See 'ya both in a bit."

He turned and smiled his thanks to Annette as she handed him a Rice Krispie Treat on his way out the door and she was smiling, almost laughing, and Hershel was, too, but Beth stood in the middle of the kitchen, not moving. Shawn babbled to himself and tugged on a strand of her hair and Beth felt that as if someone was to touch her with a feather right then, they would knock her right over.

…

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


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